Sunday, November 14, 2010

Biscuits with Jarlsberg cheese and bacon

I like making biscuits on weekend mornings. We're a savory household for the most part, so I often add cheese and other non-sweet ingredients. Today for breakfast two fourth-graders, one seventh-grader and one dad enjoyed these biscuits with Jarlsberg cheese, bacon and green onions. The Jarlsberg and bacon worked perfectly together, nutty, salty and rich.

I got my basic biscuit recipe nearly 20 years ago from my friend Ellen, whose mother gave it to her as a wedding present. The recipe has a long, Depression-era history in her family, which explains why it calls for buttermilk and oil rather than butter. I have successfully substituted plain yogurt mixed with milk for the buttermilk, which I never remember to buy. Either way, the biscuits are light and flaky, perfect on their own or as a wrapper for little ham sandwiches.

I know many cooks will insist that a biscuit recipe without butter is like a chocolate-chip cookie without chocolate. All I can say is: Try it. It really works, and it's a heck of a lot easier. You can always put butter on at the table. In fact, I recommend it.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Add cheese, bacon and green onions, and toss to coat with the flour mixture.

Mix the oil and buttermilk (or yogurt-milk combination) gently in a measuring cup - you don't want them to combine fully, so don't beat them hard. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and bring the dough together with a fork. When the dough comes together, knead it 6-8 times inside the bowl with one hand, turning it over on itself, until the dough is smooth - don't overwork it.

Pat the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick on a parchment-lined baking pan. Cut it into into squares and separate them, leaving some space between the biscuits. Bake about 20 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown and smell heavenly. Serve immediately.

These biscuits are best right out of the oven, but if you have leftovers, reheat them in the oven or toaster oven - never in the microwave, or you'll be in soggy city.

Note: I received a free sample of Jarlsberg cheese via my participation in the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. I've got a few more Jarlsberg recipes coming up - stay tuned!

@Bonnie - I have never tried buttermilk powder and in fact didn't know it existed. Is it a mail-order product? And yes, I think sour cream mixed with milk would work too, although it would eliminate some of the health benefits of butterless biscuits....

Wow! These look amazing, and I can't believe they don't have any butter. I want to try these right now (and it is almost midnight!) I am going to give them a go over the weekend! I'll let you know how it goes :-) Thank you for sharing, love. May peace and beauty shower down this week!

I pulled my can out of the frig (it's refrigerated once opened). It's actually called cultured Buttermilk Blend (a cultured blend of sweet cream churned buttermilk, sweet dairy whey, and lactic acid.) For cooking and baking - this is a 12 oz. can I believe I last found at Kroger.What I have is made by Saco - sacofoods.com. Like many people, buttermilk is not an item I always have, so I find this comes in very handy. I learned about it in catering school.

Hi Erika, The can provides instructions on proportions to mix with water (ex: 1 c. water and 4 TB blend =1 c. buttermilk). The instructions also say to mix the dry blend with your other dry ingredients, then add the appropriate amount of water when the recipe calls for liquid buttermilk.I've made the liquid buttermilk from the blend first, and I've added the blend to the dry ingredients and added water later: both methods have worked very successfully for me. I use it often in my cornbread, and my recipe remains moist. Try it, I hope it works as well for you as it does for me.